VNExpress/Reuters-July 23
Fast global trade has allowed the import and export of all manner of delicious ingredients that help bring Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Sri Lankan cuisines to our dinner tables. Now, new research shows the trading of spices for culinary use goes way back – some 2,000 years, to be precise. In a paper published July 21 in Science Advances, we and our colleagues detail our findings of what seems to be evidence of Southeast Asia’s oldest known curry. It’s also the oldest evidence of curry ever found outside India. We made the intriguing discovery at the Oc Eo archeological complex in southern Vietnam. We found eight unique spices, originally from different sources, which were likely used for making curry. What’s even more fascinating is that some of these would have been transported over several thousand kilometers by sea. Our team’s research was not initially focused on curry. Rather, we were curious to learn about the function of a set of stone grinding tools known as “pesani”, which the people of the ancient Funan kingdom likely used to powder their spices. We also wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the ancient spice trade. Using a technique called starch grain analysis, we analyzed microscopic remains recovered from a range of grinding and pounding tools excavated from the Oc Eo site. Most of these tools were excavated by our team from 2017 to 2019, while some had been previously collected by the local museum. Of the 40 tools we analyzed, 12 produced a range of spices including turmeric, ginger, fingerroot, sand ginger, galangal, clove, nutmeg and cinnamon. This means the occupants of the site had indeed used the tools for food processing, including to powder the rhizomes, seeds and stems of spice plants to release flavor. Read more at: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/food/researchers-find-evidence-of-2000-year-old-curry-in-vietnam-the-oldest-in-southeast-asia-4633170.html
